THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: When the Vizhinjam International Seaport was commissioned on Friday, all three political fronts in Kerala vied for credit for the project.
However, it was actually a Communist leader, the late T A Majeed, who set the wheels in motion to set up a harbour in the state capital nearly 70 years ago. It was while serving as public works minister in the first Kerala government headed by EMS Namboodiripad way back in 1957 that Majeed initiated the steps to set up a harbour in Vizhinjam, assembly records from the time reveal.
A part of the undivided Communist party, Majeed was a member of the Travancore-Cochin assembly and served as Varkala MLA in the first, third, fourth and fifth Kerala assemblies, too.
As per the records, while responding to a question from M Sadasivan in the assembly in May 1957, Majeed said the government had initiated proceedings to set up the Vizhinjam harbour. A study was then launched and a sum of `1.2 lakh earmarked for the purpose. The land survey was completed in a year. Later, the marine survey was launched. However, that was when the state government was dissolved by the Union government.
Later, based on the study report, the foundation stone for the Vizhinjam harbour was laid in 1961. Construction began a year later, but took 17 years to complete. The E K Nayanar government in 1987, too, played a significant role in the project’s progress. In 1991, then Ports Minister M V Raghvan in the K Karunakaran government took the initiative to conduct further studies for the project and successive governments carried the initiative forward.
“Since Majeed sir hailed from a coastal village like Edava, and since he had a wide network of friends and acquaintances in countries like Singapore and Malaysia, he foresaw the potential of a cargo-fishing port. His perspectives were included in the first developmental document prepared by the Communist party under C Achuthamenon. When it came to power, the party gave priority to such initiatives,” Geetha Nazeer, the daughter of late Communist leader N E Balram and Majeed’s daughter-in-law.
“In fact, the credit for his contributions goes to not just his family, but also the organisation and the people who made him what he was,” she said.